Saturday, June 01, 2013

[My column Surf’s Up, as published in The Telegram in St. John's on Thursday, May 23, 2013.]

In one of the earlier Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons, there’s a segment where Lisa conducts a science experiment involving some Coke, a tooth and (courtesy of Bart) an electrical shock that makes everything go haywire. How much so? Well, the electrified tooth gives rise to a tiny society that evolves before Lisa’s eyes.

“One of them is nailing something to the door of the cathedral,” Lisa gasps. “I’ve created Lutherans!”

Making your own congregation is one thing, but the fun of seeing a miniature civilization come together is a joy that millions of people share on a daily business, and they don’t need a tooth and some cola. Instead, you can do it simply and enthusiastically with a phone, tablet or PC.

The granddaddy of all simulation games is undoubtedly SimCity, which debuted (believe it or not) in 1989, and which has spawned all kinds of spinoffs and ventures in the years since. The main allure, though, is the same: build a city, and keep the people happy and prosperous while keeping all of the elements in balance. It can be harder than it first appears!

The Sims is one of the spinoffs, and it’s a juggernaut in its own right. Meant to be played on a desktop computer, it debuted in 2000, and went on through subsequent versions to change the industry (it set the Guinness World Record for bestselling PC game), and continues to evolve for different platforms, like gaming consoles.

The Sims brand shows absolutely no sign of slowing down at all. For the last few weeks, owner Electronic Arts has been whipping up interest in The Sims 4 … which won’t even come out until next winter, at the earliest.

Of course, the success of all things Sim has spawned imitations and variations aplenty. While the Sims puts players’ minds, whether they appreciate it or not, to the challenges of urban planning, there are so-called “sandbox” games like Minecraft, in which players build something digitally from scratch. Minecraft, which I’ve written about (if not glorified) at length here before is something different, and not quite as satisfying as building a city to call your own.

Here are two that I find both relaxing and addictive.

City Story Metro

iOs

The gaming company Storm8, which makes a seemingly never-ending series of “story” games that follow similar Farmville-like templates, produces this app for users of iPhones and other Apple products. At present, it’s not available for Android and other competitors.

The idea is simple: you start with a grid, and you begin adding things like houses and buildings. It’s easy and fun to get started, with rewards and incentives coming quickly as you unlock levels and goals. That’s standard game design: they want you to stick around and keep coming back. Over the longer term, City Story Metro rewards regular gameplay with constant additions, and new ways to make a city look cool. (I spent a fair bit of time making a chunk of mine resemble Central Park.)

Megapolis takes that model, and ramps things up considerably. The graphics are more akin to 3D, and you will find replicas of many recognizable structures and world landmarks. In that regard, your city will look considerably spiffier and more realistic.

The principles are the same. You need to have a balance of residents, who pay taxes, but who need infrastructure and services, which require revenue, which must also come from industry, which requires energy … It’s all interconnected and interdependent, and the game requires balanced goals.

It also requires patience. You can speed things up if you use what Megapolis calls Megabucks, which can be gradually earned … or bought in batches, with real money. Like City Story Metro, which has a similar option, this is where the makers of a “free” game stand to earn considerable amounts of money. (This is why this kind of game is called a freemium.)

An interesting problem with Megapolis is that it is available on different platforms, but they cannot always talk to each other. For instance, you can play on Facebook, which offers options you cannot get on mobile devices, but you won’t be able to add anyone from the mobile system as a friend … which is kind of odd, given that gathering neighbours is critical to advancing through the game’s stages.

Small matter, though. I find Megapolis makes for a wee bit of strategic thinking. It may take a few weeks to get to the level I next want, but it’s fun to imagine what might happen, and it’s one of my favourite ways to unwind with a hot beverage.

Sunday, December 02, 2012

One of the things I like about The Simpsons: Tapped Out is the incremental additions of characters and situations, including a few that have been tied into episodes of the show. The most recent is a hipster version of Homer you can adopt, with the usual blue-and-white costumer replaced by retro-minded attire that would not be out of place in, say, Brooklyn ... or Portland. The look is connected to next week's Simpsons episode, The Day The Earth Stood Cool, which features Portlandia's Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein, not to mention the Decemberists.

The tasks for the too-cool-for-you Homer include drinking "Duff Blue Ribbon," as seen above. You can also give Homer instructions to "walk around acting superior," "listen to indie rock" and "screen mumblecore films," among others.

These have been funny touches. Fat Tony, the every-syllable-is-worthy-of-being-enunciated mobster, showed up a little while ago (tied into a Tony-centered episode) and before that the Mayan version of Homer, which connected to this year's Treehouse of Horror episode. I'm curious to see what's next.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

This image has been buzzing around the web for the last few days: an imagined version of Grand Theft Auto set not just in Gotham City, but with a retro/classic style of Batman, Joker, Two-Face and all the rest. I've never played any GTA game, nor really want to, but I have to say I'd be curious what this would look like.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Well, isn't this the Venn diagram for obsessive types? Chess players who are into Lego and Star Wars ... not that small a number, I'd bet. Anyway, here's a DIY for that demographic:

Click here to get the lowdown on how to put this set together for yourself. Although making Darth Vader the queen of the Dark Side? Whoa, that's risky. (The Emperor is the king, which does kind of make sense.)

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

According to legend from ancient times (that is, in 2003), Movember started as a bar chat in Australia among a bunch of friends. It’s November, one noted, so why not grow a moustache?

Not long after that, Movember became a movement, and a way of raising funds to fight prostate cancer, one of the deadliest cancers affecting men.

Now, in 2010, it’s everywhere, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much Mo-mentum and related activity online.

Movember CanadaHockey playoff beards? Oh, they’ll be back in the spring, but for now, the facial hair of choice is the moustache. If you see a fellow trying to get that caterpillar to evolve into a handlebar, give him a pat on the back … and be prepared to donate. The official site for Movember in Canada has background information, online tools and everything you’ll need to get involved.

A Newfoundland MovemberParticipant Jon Duke of St. John’s is one of the people pitching in, and using social media to get friends and others to donate. He shaved off his beloved beard and is posting pictures as his Movember grows in. Best wishes!

Elsewhere this week

Scale of the UniverseHere’s something that amazed my son when I showed it to him this week. It’s a feature that delves into the relative scale of things, allowing you to zoom in and out a wide variety of things. You move surprisingly quickly from, say, viruses to human beings to planets. It’s when you look at the micro and macro ends of the spectrum that your mind gets quite the workout. Now that I know what quantum foam is, I will think very differently about what it means to be very, very small. An eye-popper.

Music Time MachineWould youngsters today even recognize a jukebox? Perhaps you need to be of a certain age to appreciate the Music Time Machine, not just for the jukebox setting, but also for the vintage tunes you can select from the year of your choice. I had a lot of fun with this one recent evening while I was working away, and kept tapping for tunes to keep me going. Even better, it was a whole lot cheaper than jukeboxes used to be!

Balloon popperWhat is the appeal of mindlessly popping balloons? In a virtual setting, there are no broken bits, no needles flying about, and you can turn the volume off if you like, too. This simple page flows balloons continually, in diagonal lines. Your job (to use a word very loosely indeed) is to glide your mouse around, earning one weirdly satisfying pop after another.

Park seasonsWith the seasons changing before our eyes, this site is a nice amusement for a spare moment: spin your mouse, and see an animated park transform as rapidly as you desire.

Google BlogoscopedGoogle has an incredible amount of influence over the daily habits of tens of millions of people, and yet many of us don’t think that much about how Google itself operates. (That may be because Google usually offers us a clean white slate when we go to look something up.) Google Blogoscoped follows the company and its services as, say, a car blogger would cover Honda or Ford. For web enthusiasts, it’s always a revealing read.

Past Life AnalysisHow’s this for some time-passing hooey? You type in the day you were born, and you’re presented with an “analysis” of what you were like in a prior life. I, evidently, was a shepherd or horseman in Labrador in the 13th century with a “revolutionary” streak who inspired many changes! Too bad the journals I ought to have written have evidently been lost for the ages.

In this case, Grover focuses on the word “on,” as in, “on a boat.” Or, “I’m on a horse,” as Grover says at the end … except that the animal below him says “Moo.” “Cow,” Grover quickly adds.

Hilarious. It works for adults, particularly those who like a little burst of satire, and it definitely works for children, too. By early this week, well over five million people had seen the video on YouTube, not including copies posted elsewhere.

I wasn’t surprised, then, to read a piece from New York magazine that revealed not only that the producers of Sesame Street aim to hit two generations with one video, but also deliberately try to get a viral thing happening when they make a video.

They’ve also done parodies of Mad Men – “I’m mad!” says one irate Muppet – and True Blood, a.k.a. True Mud. Yes, it’s a bit risky source material, but the idea is that the kids appreciate what they’re seeing for what it is, while the adults get a lift on a couple of levels.

The Grover parody was conceived, in part, as a way of getting people’s attention, and its internal budget was justified as a promotional event (you’ll notice a brief slide at the end suggesting you watch Sesame Street on PBS, or their website).

More with Muppets

Of course, Grover is a Muppet, but he sticks to Sesame Street. The Muppets, as a brand in their own right, have been reinventing themselves over the last couple of years, and have been making extraordinary clever use of the web to do it.

Consider the cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which reunited all of the Muppet Show gang for a rousing yet kid-friendly rendition. (Animal “sang” the word Mama over and over in the place of the lines about pulling a trigger and shooting a man dead.) The video was just posted, a few nudges were made, and boom – everyone got excited about the Muppets again.

For some, it was a bit of nostalgia; for others, like my son – who particularly likes watching videos of Beaker and Bunsen Honeydew’s ill-fated experiments – the videos are entirely fresh.

When you think about it, the Muppets had a built-in advantage for the web. Their sketches were short and often action-packed, built around one strong joke … and just the right length for bite-size videos that people overwhelmingly prefer online.

Many viral hits are shot with a simple camera, even a cellphone, which makes the Muppets different. The production values on the new ones are sumptuous, and quite a bit of thought and skill has gone into pulling them off.

The Muppet videos are laying the groundwork for a new movie, and no doubt a multimedia presence that will probably be hard to ignore, and possibly overwhelming. For now, though, millions of people can’t get enough of those morsels of Muppet humour.

Angry Birds: HalloweenAngry Birds has been a worldwide phenomenon since this summer: a game where a little geometry knowledge helps, and a whole lot of fun for anyone with a smartphone. The free version unveiled for Android phones this month drew 2 million downloads in half a week.

Rovio, the company behind the addictively compelling game, has issued a special Halloween edition, with new levels and challenges. Downloading it made me a hit in our house, where both my wife and son are far adept than I am in maneuvering those die-hard birds into slingshots.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Leading up to, during and now after Remembrance Day, I've heard many moving accounts about war and valour and sacrifices, and the horror of the battlefield, and about the strain and post-traumatic stress that veterans have endured.

And still, during the week, I have repeatedly seen the new TV commercial for Call of Duty: Black Ops, which is no doubt making a mint. The ad - with Gimme Shelter in the background - features ordinary folks going full-tilt in fantasy shoot-em-up modes.

Friends of mine play it, and I'm sure they're having fun, but isn't it at the very least weird that the ad campaign launched the very week that we remember the dead?

Sunday, July 04, 2010

I love playing Scrabble, even though these days it's Lexulous, the online knockoff that formerly had been Scrabulous. In any event, you need to know a whole bunch of tricky little words to win (Qi? Oui!), and here's a handy list from Mental Floss of 10 Scrabble words every one should know.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

When I was a kid, Hangman games were one of the ways we got through road trips. It’s simple enough for anyone to play. You guess some letters, knowing that a correct choice gets you closer to an answer, while an incorrect one … well, that gets you closer to something worse than a dangling participle.

This week’s web tour includes an updated version of Hangman, one that even plays to your particular interests and hobbies. We’ll also tap a well-known magazine’s audience for expert advice, get some Kiwi gardening advice, and learn about the value of those CFL lightbulbs.

HangmanThis Norwegian twist on Hangman has a key appeal: you get to select a category before you start playing. Just a few of the categories include countries, Al Pacino movies and frequently misspelled words … many of which, in the last category, didn’t strike me as being commonly misspelled. Then again, this game comes to us from Norway! The categories add a little sparkle, but they also do help make it easier to guess correctly.

Wired How-To WikiWired magazine is a must-read for technofiles of varying degrees of skill and geekitude. It’s not surprising, though, that its audience would have the chops to make a go of expert-guidance articles on all manner of topics, from converting a DVD so it can play on an iPad to making your own yogurt. Registration is required, if you want to write or edit. If you just want to read or browse, you can click your way straight through.

Moosey’s Country GardenFrom New Zealand comes this gardening site, which one of my friends heartily recommends. That may because she enjoys reading about someone’s bounty during the cold winter months here – which is perfect, because when we’re snowbound here they’re right in the height of summer. That also means the latest posts are about their less-lush season, but gardening buffs will relish seeing tracking back through the last few months.

Executed TodayPerhaps it’s a little on the grim side, but Executed Today looks at history in an unorthodox way. It’s a blog that each day documents an execution. The range of subject matter is surprisingly wide. The tone aims to be fair and neutral, which is impressive, given how loaded some of the specific subjects can be.

Pictorial History of DentristryHumans have been figuring out how to fix dental problems for a long time – much longer than I ever imagined. I have no problem with reading up about dentistry, tooth decay, surgery and such, but I found myself strangely fascinated by the materials here. If you’re nervous about the modern dentist’s chair, you may want to stay away.

CFL bulb savings calculator I started using compact fluorescent lights a few years ago, gradually replacing my incandescent bulbs. (Well, most of them.) The bulbs have certainly taken off in public acceptance, with the Canadian Football League now competing for top-of-mind awareness for the CFL acronym. While I’m wary of the mercury in these bulbs, and wonder how well we’re disposing of them, I’ve gotten used to the light they provide. Here’s a handy resource on the financial reasons to switch.

Arcade Fire singleNext week, Montreal-based Arcade Fire will release a 12-inch vinyl single called The Suburbs, in advance of their first album in three years. Last week, we got an online teaser in the guise of a mini-stunt: you see an image of a vinyl record, and when you click on it, it spins and a sound comes out. Sort of. It speeds up and slows down, and you won’t hear very much, but it’s an amusing way to spark some interest in new music.

My Instagram feed

Why Dot Dot Dot?

That is, where did this blog get its name?

Dot Dot Dot is Morse code for the letter 'S,' the full message Guglielmo Marconi claimed to have received atop Signal Hill in St. John's in 1901. It ushered in the age of telecommunications. My maternal grandfather worked as a telegraph operator for Canadian Marconi on Signal Hill for many years.
As well, I have a habit of overusing the ellipsis when I write ... as frequent readers might notice.